Leap Through the Rip
by TechnoDee
Summary: Meta Knight. Prisoner of Nightmare. He's going to leap through every opportunity he finds, leap through all available rips in their plans, just for the sake of escaping, but nothing is going to be easy. From the start of his escape to the end of it. T for swearing, blood, deaths, all that.
1. New, Fresh Prisoner

**Leap Through the Rip**

**Chapter One: New, Fresh Prisoner**

* * *

"...And he makes the thirty-second of the month—wow, there's a lot of rebellious demon beasts." The chain around the navy blue puffball's wrists were tugged once again, and the puffball cringed. It hurt. The chains were adorned with spikes, and it hurt. His wrists bled. But bleeding wouldn't kill him, no, it never would. What killed his kind, he didn't know.

"It means more torture!" the guard on the left exclaimed, grinning. It was an eagle of sorts, giant black wings flapping right above the puffball's head. His sadistic laugh made the puffball cringe inwardly, and his expression must have shown it—the black eagle tugged on the chains, pulling him down in that direction, spikes cutting against his wrists even further. The puffball let out a cry. "You're disgusted by _me_?"

_By your sadistic nature,_ the puffball thought, _not you, of course, I'd never be disgusted by my own kind._

_...My own kind? They don't even care for me, are they worthy of that title?_

A sigh came from his right, and the puffball turned to see a weasel. The upper half of her fur was a brown, while her underside was completely white. Normal-looking, the puffball heard them call her. "I am a mind-reader, dear prisoner," the weasel warned. "You should have the sense not to think anything."

"What was he thinkin'?" the eagle demanded, slackening the chains for once. The puffball inhaled sharply, looking at the weasel pleadingly. "Eh, Furino?"

Furino the weasel ignored the puffball's pleading look. "He doesn't like our sadistic nature, not us. But he doesn't call us his 'kind', and we're not _worthy_ of that title..." Furino yanked on the chains, smiling as he cried out. "Eh, Meta _Knight_? Feeling brave enough to call yourself a coward, now?"

They laughed. Meta Knight hated it. He spoke up; stupid move. "I-I'm not a coward," he said quietly, looking at Furino who stared back at him in surprise. "I-I w-won't c-call myself a c-coward." He winced as the chains suddenly pulled two opposite ways, and he cried out in a mixture of pain, alarm and fear. He felt like his wrists might rip off.

It stopped. It still hurt. Meta Knight bit his bottom lip, looking forward and hearing Furino's uncaring, smooth, cruel words. "What? You wouldn't call yourself a coward, now? So tell me why you're relenting towards the 'baddies'? Tell me, hmm?"

"Furino, you can quit it now," the eagle cackled. "We're at the cells now."

"Hm? Oh, sure, Erphin." Furino dropped the chain, and Meta Knight almost bolted, until he realised Erphin, the eagle, was still holding onto the other chain. Furino slid open a cell and Meta Knight walked slowly, careful not to hurt himself with the spiked chains even more. They waited until he was in the cell and the weasel laughed. "That's it! No longer Meta _Knight_, Meta Coward!"

"Fitting," Erphin replied, smirking as he slid the cell shut. Through the iron bars, Meta Knight saw their haunting, daunting expression. "_Very_ fitting. He's not even fighting back, I—"

_"Are you fooling around, Erphin, Furino?"_ a sharp voice cut through. Meta Knight flinched. Why was the telepathy connected to him, too? _"Enough with the foolish chatter."_

"I'm sorry," Erphin said aloud, "my lord... Hmm, are you confused now, Meta Coward?" He smirked, leaning over. Furino protested, but Erphin ignored her.

"No," Meta Knight replied, puzzled, "you're having a telepathic conversation with Nightmare, right?"

A gasp was heard, but it was cut off quickly. _"...How... does the demon beast hear?"_

"You don't know anything 'bout us, Nightmare!" a feminine voice yelled from another cell. "Don't act like you do, you jerk! I'll shove your ass down the barbecue grill and everyone can eat your barbecued ass!"

"Marilyn, shut up!" Furino's voice was anything but calm, though. She turned and stalked away quickly. She was panicked, Meta Knight could tell. "Let's leave these freaks alone!"

_Freak._

_...I'm not a freak, you freak._

Erphin quickly followed her, mumbling something. Meta Knight could tell he felt very insecure. He looked at the cell beside him, and noticed the walls were transparent. Huh... funny.

"New prisoner!" the same voice who had talked about barbecuing Nightmare's ass exclaimed. She was a silver-furred wolf with three tails. Apart from that, she was quite plain. "Super fresh, too!"

"Fresh—" He could finally speak normally without those chains hurting him, at least. He winced as the sharp, stinging pain shot through his wrist, and further. "W-Well... it kinda hurts..."

"Hm? What does?" _What._ Could she _not_ notice? His bleeding wrists that felt like they were on the verge of being torn off? "Oh, that! Must hurt a lot, hun. I'll get you fixed up in a jiffy, no big deal! Come closer to the wall, now!"

Meta Knight hesitantly stepped closer to the wall, and a soft, silver glow curled around his wrists. It felt soothing, but he wasn't sure if it was healing. And then, the silver glow disappeared, and he could see the silver-furred wolf frowning. He looked back at her blankly, and she looked at the ground dejectedly. Meta Knight frowned, brows furrowed.

"Oh, um... I'm sorry, I can't heal you. Your blood has something... different in it, and it's immune to any sort of magic..." the silver-furred wolf said slowly. "Um... I can't do much about it."

"Oh... never mind, it's okay." _I just hope it heals._

"I'm Marilyn, by the way, what about you?"

"Meta Knight."

Marilyn smiled. "Oh, that's cool! What are you gonna do now, y'know, with being trapped in here... and stuff?"

Meta Knight frowned, looking around at all the odd, mutated demon beasts around him. He frowned, an action he loved to perform, and then turned back to Marilyn with a confident answer.

"Escape."

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, okay, okay, okay, _first_.

I know I have, what, three others fanfictions to write? But I got bored of them, so I took a break. (This point is important for what I have to say below.)

And, I didn't really want to write a Meta Knight thing, especially not him being a demon beast, but I needed a prisoner thing, and he can't play prisoner as a Star Warrior! That's just wrong... Um. Yeah.

If you don't know what's going on, Meta Knight just kinda rebelled, and got stuck as a prisoner. Don't worry, Marilyn doesn't have one of those roles which are so big it's ungodly. Well, she won't appear as much as Meta Knight. No one will even be _close_ to that.

Um well yeah it's sucky. I lost my mood at the end of the chapter and was like, "Y'know what? Screw this shit. I'm finishing this chapter and get done with it." And then boom. Epic horribleness of horribleness.

Eh yeah. Stupid long author's note, too.

Yeah, yeah... I won't be updating this a lot. Not until I'm freer, that is.


	2. Jester

**Leap Through the Rip**

**Chapter Two: Jester**

* * *

_Fate is king,_ Meta Knight would tell himself over and over. _Fate decides your entire life, not you. In fact, all we are are jesters of Fate._

The others hadn't bothered to pay attention to Meta Knight after his first day there. His impression of Marilyn missed the mark by miles and miles and infinity more, because she didn't talk to him like he had imagined. So he was left alone. After a while of thinking—_maybe this, maybe that_—he turned to ask Marilyn a question—answered or not.

"Hey, does anyone die over here?"

She turned to look at him from where she was talking with her other neighbour. "...Nope!" she exclaimed, grinning. "No one dies here, but no one gets out," she continued, eyes glazing over for a second. "We're just supposed to sit here like a lump until they call us out to see if we want to... 'reconcile'. None of us ever want to. I hope you're not the first, _honey_."

He didn't miss her mocking tone. "What—What if I tried to escape—What do you think of that?"

Marilyn looked at him in surprise, and Meta Knight knew for sure what she was going to say. After a few seconds passed, Marilyn smiled, and then burst out laughing.

"_You_? _Escape_? Nice try, ho—honey!" She snickered at him heartlessly and then whipped round. "Don't get me wrong—I was nice to you at first to test ho you were. But you're nothing worth hoping for. You _won't_ manage to escape—that's a fact."

"Have you ever tried?!" Meta Knight yelled back at her, growling. Furino the weasel turned to glare at them from the hallway.

"Stop bickering like some stupid couple," she barked, standing up from where she sat. "I want _silence_!"

"Why should I?" Marilyn sneered.

"Well, Ma-_ri_-lyn," Furino growled, taking a threatening step towards the cell, "if you don't quieten down now, I'll torture you so bad you'll wish you'd never have a nervous system."

"The only time _that_ happens is when you turn good!" Marilyn snorted. "Why don't you try then? Hit me anywhere!"

Furino's calm stance had morphed into her pouncing through the glass just as Meta Knight blinked. "_Bitch_!" she snarled, pivoting to face the wolf. "You better shut your pretty little mouth, Marilyn. You should know when to play safe and when to talk big—Ha, my bad, you should _never_ talk big, with your current status lower by six stages than of a peasant's."

Unamused, Marilyn pushed forward to snap at Furino's neck. The weasel ducked, tackling the wolf's limbs with claws that Meta Knight never knew existed, and then spun. There was a millisecond of silence before Marilyn suddenly collapsed, and Furino exhaled, narrowing her eyes and grinning tauntingly.

"Took you down in under a minute," she sighed, shaking her head. "I'd have to do that millions of times again for it to be considered a 'warm-up'. Let this being a warning"—she turned to glare at Meta Knight, who recoiled at it—"to you, before you get any funny ideas."

"D-Does this happen a lot?"

Furino stepped out of the cell, shaking her head. "It doesn't, but it's a fantastic match, don't you think? She was feeling so rebellious and she caught me in a rotten mood. Too bad it wasn't a fun battle, at all. Still got rid of most of my frustration, thankfully."

"You're gonna leave her bleeding?"

"What's it to you?!" Furino growled. "That was an _exceedingly_ short battle, dear coward—I didn't know you had enough courage to even ask two questions. Amazing. Keep up the work, Meta Chicken." As she walked away, she paused briefly. "_So they still don't know about it, huh?_" she muttered under her breath, before continuing to saunter down the hallway.

A few demon beasts came in to repair the broken glass and Meta Knight watched there, sitting like a lump, completely still before he turned to face Marilyn, still unconscious, curled in such an uncomfortable position.

_I wonder if Fate is having a good show, now._

* * *

"What did you hear at the freak side?" Erphin asked in the assembly room. Furino turned to face him then looked away.

"They still think no one died."

"That means 'mission accomplished'."

"Not quite." Furino sighed, dragging herself towards a seat. "I have a feeling that noob knows—you know, the one we dragged in the other day. He's _very_ unusual for a new prisoner and Marilyn doesn't like him. Marilyn likes every prisoner."

Erphin snorted. "Are you insinuating he'll find out about _them_—?"

"Yes, I am." Sighing, she took a seat. "Especially since he was made with the leftover blood we could find."

* * *

Meta Knight pondered and thought and wondered, but none of those ever got him anywhere.

What was it like to be a "normal demon beast"? He'd made the decision to rebel and fight against them, and he hadn't lived for very long, as far as he knew. He'd seen Furino many times, but she was different, he usually thought. She liked to fight the prisoners, unlike the other guards. She was the type of person who went searching the far corners of _everywhere_, looking for something to threaten you with—blackmail—then she'd find it, find you, and then you'd spend your entire life being chained down by her. Others would simply beat others as threats, though.

When would he escape, if ever? How would he escape, if possible? He looked at his neighbour, Marilyn, who was healing herself the same way she had tried healing Meta Knight on his first day. He sighed, before he was thrown a blanket, like every night.

"Go and sleep, all of you," the guard dog demon beast barked. "Tomorrow we're letting you out for thirty minutes, and it'd be a waste if we saw you pudgy lumps lying there like lumps and not doing anything because you don't have the _energy_. Off. To. Bed."

Going outside, huh? Well, that was new. He tossed the blanket over himself.

* * *

**A/N:** Two reviews, two favourites, two follows.

[HIGH SCORE]

Anyways, I'd like to say I forgot about the cover art. Yep. Usually I'd have some stupid background with a stupid text mentioning the stupid title of the fanfiction, but I'm too lazy to get of my lazy butt so it's not happening anytime soon.

Point of this chapter..? I don't know, actually. I just needed something in-between chapter one and chapter three.


	3. Attempt One

**Leap Through the Rip**

**Chapter Three: Attempt #1**

* * *

So he tried something unbelievably stupid and as a punishment he could do nothing but stare at a wall as he waited for them to mete out his punishment; which was due _tomorrow_.

The sheer fact that he tried to escape sent the entire demon beast company in a frenzy of panic. Meta Knight didn't quite understand why, but perhaps it was "the first one to be ever attempted" or "the first one who made it that far". Whichever it was, many stared at him with awe, but later continued with a sneer. Most confusing.

Basically, that day, he was brought outside, as usual. All that was guarding was a hummingbird by the trellis fence, a fluffy vole watching atop an open-air shed, and Furino from underneath the same shed. Weasels apparently ate voles, but Furino and that vole seemed to get along fairly well, oddly enough. Well, they _were_ demon beasts.

"_Get exercising!_" the hummingbird screeched angrily. "I don't want to hear you guys complaining about not being let out! _We let you out, dickwads!_ You better enjoy it while you can, or else—"

"No need for that, Drupinon," Furino sighed, crossing her paws and leaning her chin onto it. "Let them complain all they want later on."

"...Fine," Drupinon huffed, folding his wings. "Later. _Later_."

Meta Knight sat by a bush at the fence. He stared out into the open space and watched as Marilyn—lively as ever, to others, at least—chase some other prisoners, and the other prisoners sitting and talking, or some arguing. The guards didn't seem to care, not much. Only Drupinon, but all he wanted was them to to their stuff and stop complaining.

Meta Knight never complained, though.

"You didn't seem like the type to 'rebel'." If anything, the vole was very discreet. She had slipped over to him without him noticing. "You're too much of the goody-goody type. What possessed you to do so?"

"Nothing, just—" Meta Knight bit his bottom lip, hidden by a mask he was given. "Just... a few problems going on. I didn't like how Nightmare did some things. He just did unnecessary things to, well, hurt others for no reason."

"That's how he is, didn't you know? He seizes the chance to do that—it's like a hobby. If you like sparring, he likes inflicting pain," the vole explained without so much as a sneer. "Sadism, I heard."

"That's just about the right term." Or he thought, at least.

"Huh." The vole stood up from its position, glancing over at the trellis fence. "I'm Vrina."

"Meta Knight."

"I knew that." Vrina spun around before scampering back to the shed. Meta Knight watched her leave, then stared thoughtfully at the trellis fence, wondering what she had thought of when she looked at it.

And thus, commence the idiotic move of the year.

Meta Knight shoved past the bush to a hidden spot where the guards weren't looking—they probably didn't expect much of them, what, how many of them _tried_ to escape? None, he had learned afterwards—and frowned at the fence thoughtfully. It'd be a hard climb, since he wasn't made for running up mountains, but it'd work out if he did it right. Placing a hand on the trellis fence, he pulled himself upwards. His other hand automatically latched onto the fence, and then his feet. He clenched his jaw, holding on tight to his left hand as he rose his right hand and clung onto the trellis fence, then brought up his foot. He was doing a pretty good job for that moment, so everything was fine. Just for that while.

He'd made it three-quarters of the way, but no one had noticed up until then—but the stupid hummingbird—Drupinon—had spotted him and shrieked.

"_He's trying to escape!_"

Grimacing, Meta Knight ignored them and continued like he was doing earlier. Right hand up, right foot up, left hand up, left foot up—simple sequence, hard to pull off under pressure. Whether he could fully ignore it or not, it didn't matter—he just felt pressure and panic anyways.

_Right hand up—_

A shrill shriek. He could see the bush rustling underneath. Probably Furino. A vole wouldn't make the bush rustle that much.

_Right foot up—_

The hummingbird zoomed there at the speed of light, but couldn't get Meta Knight down, because he'd just swat him away. In that sense, the hummingbird was next to useless. It couldn't do _anything_. He grunted, hoping Vrina or Furino would remember that one thing.

_Left hand_ _up—_

"Are you trying to _die_?!" That sounded much like Marilyn; could have been someone else.

_Left foot up—_

He felt Furino jump onto the bottom of the trellis fence. The fence just shook a lot. She was advancing at a fast rate, though—but not _too_ fast. He still had a chance. A very low chance, but still a chance—

_Nearly there—_

"I can't let you escape, now can I?" Vrina had magically teleported—or he just hadn't noticed her scaling the trellis fence—on the top of the trellis fence. She looked like she was going to add a cliche "yet", but she didn't. Sighing, she set her claws onto his mask and pushed him back down to square one. Actually, square negative-ten. Or negative-hundred.

"Taken aback at Vrina's super strength, weren't you, huh?!"

"Shut it, Drupinon!" Furino growled, setting a paw and circling around Meta Knight threateningly. "Send him over to the—you know, the Judgement Room."

After that, he wasn't sure what happened, but it felt like his mind exploded—_Furino's abilities **were** connected with __brains and mental things and and and_—and then he just saw black. Just black. Like a sheet of black had been thrust at his face and covered his vision completely. He felt himself being lifted by a smaller creature—_maybe Vrina "super strength"_—and carried off somewhere.

Either way, he knew he had failed.

* * *

**A/N: ** And mixed in the thoughts of discontinuing or rebooting some crap, there is an _up-daaaate_! Ugh, it turned out like, like like like, like crap. Much crap. Many craps.

I have lurkers. Lurkers, I know you're there.


	4. Close Shave

**Leap Through the Rip**

**Chapter Four: Close Shave  
**

* * *

"Sheesh, go easy on him," Meta Knight heard a soft voice mutter, laced with concern and defiance. "He's new, and stupid, he doesn't know anything."

"Yes, he does," another voice snapped back. Meta Knight had heard this one too many times before—Furino. "He knows that there _are_ some esca—"

"Keep your voice down!" the first voice exclaimed, sounding panicked. "It's, um, hard to say, but you know... _If_ he really does find out about what we've been doing to them, did Nightmare ever think it through? They'll find out the scr—"

"What number is your cell?" Furino had stalked out of shadows, striding out with a snarl as an expression. "Tell me. _Now_."

"Um—M-08," Meta Knight blurted, "but what does that—"

"_Why would you want to place him there?_" Furino roared, whipping round. Her tail flicked against the switch, turning on the lights. Vrina sat on the table, wide-eyed. "_Who's the idiot who did that, huh?! Tell me, **now**!_"

Vrina leapt off the table. "Furino, stay calm—I know it's hidden down there, the, um, secret, but don't get stressed. If you don't say anything—" She paused, glancing at Meta Knight, eyes glinting. She coughed. "If you don't say anything, he won't find out, and he'll never know about it. It's okay," Vrina reassured.

The weasel narrowed her eyes. "Oh, yeah? _Really_... it still makes me wonder who's the idiot who placed him there. Do you know, Vrina? You're the one who passed the message to Erphin and me, after all."

After a moment of thinking, Vrina shook her head. "No, I don't know. There was a note in my job locker—the sender was anonymous."

"IT IS TIME FOR HIS PUNISHMENT," a robotic voice rumbled. "PLEASE BEGIN, DEMON BEAST FURINO."

"Shut up," Furino muttered. "I know."

"Keep him conscious, will you?" Vrina grinned. "Knock him out and he might die, and that's a big no-no."

Furino growled at Vrina, jaws snapping. "Shut up! I know—"

"Hang on a sec."

Erphin's beating wings drew Meta Knight's attention to him. "I have specific orders. We are to return to our living quarters immediately. There's been an incident near the offices and it's safest in our rooms."

Both were unamused. "Well, what 'incident'? It's gotta be nothing big, for sure," Furino snapped, turning back to Meta Knight. "Now, the dagger or—"

"No, I'm serious, it's a very serious incident." Erphin narrowed his eyes. "I was told the details."

"Then tell _us_ the details!" Vrina insisted. "If it's so important, yeah, we'll come. If it isn't, we won't."

"...Maybe we shouldn't say this in front of Meta Co—"

"Don't call him a coward!" Vrina growled. Looking taken aback by herself, she muttered, "I, uh, am very particular about proper name-calling. I'm sorry. Anyways, no, it's fine, go on. He can't do anything, anyways."

"Ugh, that's it!" Furino turned and stalked away. "I'm leaving. When his punishment's due, give me a ring, why don't you?"

Erphin muttered lowly to Vrina, whose eyes widened. He nodded, before turning and leaving. Vrina scampered after him, and Meta Knight found a chance and seized it.

"Hey, what happened?" he asked, voice trembling. He'd been frightened to death when Furino had said she was going to begin the punishment—which was pure torture, it turned out.

"...I don't see why I should inform you." Vrina sighed. "But I will, anyway. A demon beast just died in the office for no apparent reason. According to Erphin, there was the sound of someone throwing up—but there wasn't any puke around, not anywhere." She was suddenly fascinated with the floor. "It's best for you to not know who died."

"_Who_."

"I said," Vrina growled, bristling, "best for you to not know. Your punishment's later... Hey, maybe not at all? But y'know what, I'm gonna leave you with this _veeery_ important piece of information." She grinned, baring her teeth as she strode away. "Marilyn was wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

The vole had left.

Meta Knight stared down at the chains tying up his feet. In any case, he wouldn't let himself be like this. There had to be a _key_ somewhere. Vrina was the one holding onto it, if he remembered. Oh, ugh, that meant he couldn't get his hands on it...

He didn't exactly want to spend his time in this deserted room, anyway. No one was around, and the weapons on the table was giving him the creeps. He stared over by the table. None of them seemed good enough to break apart those chains—huh, even if he broke away from them, what would he do, return to his cell? He couldn't do that, that was just... wrong. He had to escape, definitely. Try to escape, again.

_"Strange, you don't give up, even after you've been beaten down once, hmm?"_

...

He hadn't heard that voice before, no. It sounded disturbingly familiar, though...

...

_"You wouldn't know who I am—but it's okay. I know you're scared the crapless, but it's okay."_

...

No, it wasn't.

...

_"You know, when she said 'Marilyn was wrong', she has to mean it, right? Why would a bad guy leave any clues for the detectives to use? There's only one answer—the bad guy **isn't** a bad guy."_

Now what was it saying?

_"Break apart the chains, and I'll lead you."_

Meta Knight grimaced. "Yeah, well... As you can see, I _can't_. There's nothing."

_"Don't be silly, there's always a way. C'mon, have a look around... oh, what's that on the chair?"_

Sighing, Meta Knight had a thorough look at the chair. Something silver glimmered under the light. "...A key—Vrina's key, the one to unlock my chains... Why'd she leave it here?"

_"The bad guy isn't a bad guy if they leave evidence behind for the detectives,"_ the voice trilled. _"Call me Vee. It's not my real name, but Nightmare would kill me if I did tell you my real name."_

"I can't reach the key."

_"Think of a way—there **has** to be something! Something, anything that might help? What about that dagger? What about that chair? Gee, Meta Knight, everything's **laid out** in front of you!"_ Vee sounded annoyed. _"Get your rear moving before I decide to abandon you."_

"Well, you don't have to help!" Meta Knight snapped, reaching forward. He winced as the chains pulled him back from stretching out to the key of freedom, growling. The chair was more of a stool, Meta Knight decided.

_"...F-Fine! I'll give you a bonus thing to work on!"_ A rope dropped from nowhere; Meta Knight flinched. _"Okay, no more bonuses! Hurry up or I'm leaving!"_

Meta Knight sighed exasperatedly, uncoiling the rope and fiddling with it in his hands. He threw the rope forward, grabbing onto one end of it, hoping to latch onto the stool, but to no avail. It simply decided "no, I'm gonna be shitty to you today".

_"...A hook."_

"You aren't supposed to help me."

_"Yeah, yeah! I know, but you're so **stupid**! You—You need a hook, okay?! If you don't, you can't pull the stupid stool down, idiot!"_

"There isn't any hook nearby."

Vee sighed exasperatedly. _"Okay, okay! I get it! You're too **stupid** to escape by yourself! Now, just shut up and let me __do the magic!"_

The key was encased in some sort of light blue glow, before it disappeared, and a soft _click_ was heard behind Meta Knight. He yanked himself away from the chains successfully, and waited patiently for Vee to start blabbing again.

_"...Out of the door, now. And don't try running."_ Vee sounded stern. _"It's not gonna work, not now. Trust me, we'll just have to tweak some stuff, and then you're set to go."_

"So what now?"

_"Um... Back to your cell, I guess?"_

"'I guess'?"

_"Look, I dunno, kid. I haven't been around this place for a long time!"_ Vee sighed. _"I don't know what to do in this place, all right? But I know what's gonna happen—just wait for a pink marshmallow to roll by Nightmare's place and bomb it all up, and you can run while Kirby's at it!"_

"Who's Kirby?"

_"...Nightmare's greatest—"_ Vee halted. _"Look, return to your cell. I'll explain stuff once you're there."_

* * *

**14 April 2014 SGT**

Well um, more OCs. *paces away slowly*

But Vee's the last OC!

...Vee's name came from the letter V, by the way, and that will be explained later. Much later.


	5. Drawls

**Leap Through the Rip**

**Chapter Five: Drawls**

* * *

"Oh my gosh what happened _Meta you idiot tell me right now_." Marilyn, of course, had taken charge of questioning him right when he arrived back at his cell. After another quick glance, she frowned. "…Well, you're not injured."

"No," he muttered, flopping on the steel floor (it was highly uncomfortable but Meta Knight was not in the mood to give a damn).

She waited for him to say something else (probably lame and obvious) and realised he wasn't going to. "Um, they didn't give you a punishment or anything? For something _that_ severe, they'd probably leave you with scars." Another quiet moment of silence. Meta Knight remained as dead as before. "Oh, uh, right, you're not injured at all. What happened? Did they decide you're too flimsy or something like that? …Well? Did _anything_ happen?"

"Yes."

_"You're giving her the cold shoulder."_

"I'm not, I'm just tired." Plus, it was weird for Marilyn to be so concerned about him. Maybe she just wanted to see what kind of punishment he got—especially when he came back unscathed.

_"'Just tired'. Pff. Yeah, right. That's not fooling me, thanks."_

"It's not supposed to fool anyone."

"Who are you _talking_ to?!" Marilyn barked. Meta Knight jumped. "If you're speaking with the voices in your head, you're going to need a psychiatrist real soon. But I didn't think you would need one." She turned away, probably annoyed with the fact he was ignoring her completely and talking to himself. He didn't have a problem with that.

_"_…'_Voices in your head'? Haha, she's not __**too**__ far off!"_ Vee scoffed. _"Though I'm not a random stupid voice!"_

Meta Knight would've disregarded it, but he instead stared blankly at a wall. "…Which reminds me, what _are_ you?" he asked in a lower tone. (If Marilyn heard him she would crow in triumph and send him to a psychiatrist. The last psychiatrist he saw was a creepy clown with three eyeballs.)

Vee didn't answer, but she did cough slightly. Only after a while did she talk again. _"Say, what do you think happened back there?"_ Her tone was smug. She knew why the punishment was delayed. (Hopefully cancelled.)

Speaking of which, what _did_ happen back there? It was a funny thing to happen, that. They usually always held their punishments unless something really, really, really bad cropped up, and usually, nothing did. He'd heard stories from some nice guards that those who were punished severely came home as a walking scar. Meta Knight had then vowed to never do anything that would defy their law. (He did, though.)

But, then again, he'd never actually seen anyone being punished that severely, so the guard could have been lying. All the creatures there were born to be evil, anyway. Some just used their head and tried to get their own freedom and ended up in a pokey old cell; they were better than those who let themselves be mindlessly controlled. Like robots. Ah, yes, robots were the perfect comparison.

_"You've got to stop thinking funny things in your head,"_ Vee reminded, and she laughed. Meta Knight shook his head, then froze.

"…I _what_?"

_"_…_Stop thinking funny things in your head?"_ Vee sounded confused.

"…How do you know what I'm thinking? I didn't say that all out loud, did I?" Well, if he did, Nosy Marilyn would immediately ask him why he was talking.

_"Oh, uh, did you..? Well, I don't think you did…"_ Vee's attempt at avoiding the question wasn't very well done. She choked. _"Uh, yeah, well, it was a guess, I suppose. I don't really know what you're thinking, but you're funny enough to know that you're thinking funny things in your head!"_

Meta Knight continued to stare blankly. "Well, if you say that, then—"

_"Have you ever checked your floor?" _Vee suddenly asked. Blinking, confused, Meta Knight didn't reply. _"Uh, I suppose not. Well, go ahead and check it now. Nothing harmful, I think."_

"Well… you _think_?"

_"I know a lot of stuff! I'm really impressive!"_ Vee cheered. _"Well, go and check the floor out! You're in your own cell, aren't you?"_

Curiously, Meta Knight knocked on the steel floor, and frowned. Marilyn had turned around to watch him investigate. The sound was… strange, but he couldn't quite place it. Funny. It didn't sound like the normal steel floor, definitely, but he couldn't think of anything else. He was really, really tired.

And then Marilyn spoke up, "Hey, your floor…" After saying that, she fell silent and frowned.

"…What's up with my floor?"

"It's hollow," Marilyn blurted. Meta Knight stared at her in surprise. "Well, it _sounds_ hollow. Do you think you could break a hole through it, or something? Maybe there's some sort of secret under there. I'm not sure what, though. It's funny."

_Hollow. Huh._

_"_Why would you want to place him there?!_"_ Furino's shrill voice rang out. _"_Who's the idiot who did that? Tell me, **now**!_"_

Why would anyone be an idiot for placing an idiot in a cell? Funny.

_"Furino__, stay calm_—_I know it's hidden down there, the, um, secret, but don't get stressed. If you don't say anything_—_If you don't say anything, he won't find out, and he'll never know about it. It's okay."_

_Yep, something's suspicious._

"Marilyn, you don't suppose there are any weapons that I could use?" Meta Knight asked hopefully. She gave him a bewildered look.

"No, of course not. And anyways, I wouldn't be able to pass it to you if I had one." The wolf snorted. "Well, you're you, right? Don't you have any powers?"

Meta Knight looked at the floor, then at Marilyn, then at his hands, a cycle which repeated for a few times. "…No," he said in a tiny voice. He was a demon beast, but he was supposed to be handling a sword really well; not using his own special powers really well. He didn't _have_ anything except for his swordsmanship. And he didn't _have_ any sword right now.

Well, Marilyn simply snorted at him. "Wow, Nightmare's a huge idiot." She laughed. "Well, obviously! If he wasn't an idiot, not so many of us would have defied him! Well, that's what you get for being an idiot, I suppose!" She glanced at Meta Knight. "You know, the last prisoner that was staying in your cell—"

"_What_? Someone stayed in this cell before me?" Didn't she say no one got out before?

She paused, thinking over her words. "…Oh, you're right, I'm making no sense, am I? Yeah, nobody has died… _Nobody has died._"

_"She sounds like she's trying to convince herself,"_ Vee observed. Meta Knight had had the same thought.

"…Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly.

"_Very_!" she snapped. "Nobody has died before, gotten out before, escaped before, _anything_! I'm being a loon again, don't mind me."

_"It's not convincing!"_ Vee sang.

Meta Knight brushed her off. "Then why would you say that?"

"Slip—of—my—tongue," Marilyn replied with a jerky emphasis. "All right now, quit disturbing me. You look like you need some rest, anyway."

"Later." He knocked on the steel floor again when he heard the door burst open.

"_What are you doing?!"_ Furino shrieked, glare fixed straight at Meta Knight. She strode over and analysed him up and down. "You trying to break out or something? Not happening. Not today. Not while I'm on guard."

"I'm not escaping." Vee hissed at the back of his head. "The floor is hollow."

The weasel choked, then glanced at the floor. "Maybe we have steel termites in the works. All right, I'll go have it checked out. You, don't destroy the floor _or you'll pay_." She sauntered away to her seat that was left for the guard on duty.

"Right."

_Steel termites._

"Why is my floor hollow?"

"Persistent!" Furino hissed. "There's. Nothing. Wrong. It's just some steel termites, I'm sure. Don't check it out or I'll smack you out of the galaxy."

"That's a nice deal!" Marilyn exclaimed. "It's much better than staying here!"

"_Steel termites_."

_"She's lying."_

"As if I need to know that," Meta Knight muttered, staring at the floor once again.

"Hey, what's wrong with you _now_? Quit staring at the floor!" Furino shot him an icy stare. "I'm having you transferred in a week."

The silver-furred wolf stiffened. "_Wait what_."

"What? Will you miss him too much? Well, sorry, but he has to be transferred. Besides, those steel termites won't do him any good. Imagine if he fell through the floor one day." The weasel stretched. "It's not a big problem, anyway."

"Him moving is not a big problem? The next empty cell is seven hallways away! What are you _talking_ about? Plus, I'm sure it's reserved for someone else really soon." Marilyn grinned triumphantly. "Gossip network always works."

"Because he isn't going to exist in three weeks." It was a low mutter, but it was enough for Meta Knight to freeze.

"…You're going to _kill_ me?" he spluttered, unsure of what else to say.

Furino sighed. "Well, well, well, look what I spilled. What's the big deal? Heaven's a nice place, you know. I think you're innocent enough to go there, at least."

"You say that as if you do that on a regular basis," he snarled. He wasn't one to act aggressive, but there was always a time when calm people acted aggressive.

The weasel paused, tipping her head forwards and muttering something inaudible. Then, she looked back up and shook her head. She looked almost remorseful. "No, we don't. We don't kill prisoners on a regular basis, but we kill so often it makes no difference."

"You're heartless," Meta Knight blurted.

"Took you a long time," Furino scoffed.

* * *

They were outside in the grassy area again. Meta Knight paused, glancing at the fence thoughtfully. He was uninformed last time, but now he knew how they worked. He could try again…

"Don't try to escape again," he heard Vrina hiss from behind him. "It'll get you into trouble."

"I eat trouble for breakfast," Meta Knight snapped.

"No, you don't." He didn't, but he just wanted Vrina to know that trouble didn't affect him at all. "The incident has cleared up a little. If you try to escape again, you're not going to succeed, and we're going to _really_ punish you for a second attempt."

Meta Knight huffed and turned away. Yeah, right, stupid fluff-ball of nothing. Like some _punishment_ was going to stop him from escaping. None of the demon beast prisoners deserved to be locked up like that; and once he was out, he was going to _find_ a way to free all of them. Even if Marilyn could be severely annoying at times, even _she_ didn't deserve some kind of lock-up future like that.

A revolution would be nice. He'd sneak into the place (what was this place called again?) and try and get the remaining demon beasts to turn against Nightmare, or something. Yes, that'd work nicely. _Real_ nicely. Even if Nightmare was some all-powerful creature with fighting skills of a billion demon beasts, they could pull some tricks and win. Maybe.

…Oh. Well. There'd be some that would still stay by Nightmare, right? Well, he already thought that Vrina was unsure of what she should do (she was _still_ a loyal demon beast _but not quite_) but the rest could be really stubborn. Furino looked hard to persuade, and so did Erphin. He didn't know many other demon beasts other than them. Well, he could just explore the place and find more, couldn't he? No problem. It'd be easy, especially if others joined and worked with him.

Then he bumped into something gloopy and gross.

"Ack..! Oh, uh, sorry…" Meta Knight began to mutter, before staring at what he bumped into.

Green things.

Green balls.

"Oh, sooooorry," the… _thing_ apologised. "I wasn't waaaatching where I was _waaaaalking_."

"It's fine. I wasn't, too." But he certainly would make the _thing_ sorry for speaking like that. "You're… um, a prisoner, too?"

When Meta Knight looked up, he noticed that this thing was simply a bunch of green balls stacked together with two eyeballs on the top. No mouth seen, though. Strange. Well, demon beasts were really strange, anyway.

"Yeeeeeep. I'm a prisoooooner too." He was _really_ going to sock this thing in the face if it didn't stop talking like that.

"…Oh." Another prisoner. "How long have you been imprisoned?"

"Hmmmmmm, eleven yeaaaaaars?"

Meta Knight flinched. _Prisoners don't get out, ever,_ he reminded himself. "Well, that's a lot," he muttered. "That's a real lot. …Sorry." Although something told him he didn't need to apologise, because the gloopy thing began laughing.

_"Haha! Why're you apologising, huh?"_ Vee had joined Mr Green Balls, too. _"You're so weird."_

He tuned her out. "Um, I'm Meta Knight. What's your name?"

Mr Green Balls stopped laughing. "_Popoooooooon_."

"Oh, um, all right, nice to meet you, Popon." A pregnant pause. "That's how you say your name, right?" Because Popon (Mr Green Balls) liked to drawl out his words and if his name really _was_ pronounced "Popoooooooon"…

"Correeeeeect."

Ah, that was pleasing to know.

"Hey!" Marilyn jogged over with a grin plastered on her face. "Popon! Didn't you say you were joining me over at those benches?"

"Oh." For once, no drawling. "Ohhhhh. Sooooorry."

"It's fine. Oh, you!" The wolf glanced at Meta Knight. "Come with us! Popon can be really boring."

"Well, um—" He was planning on looking around for better escaping areas, actually.

"Well, what're you waiting for?"

…Eh. Well, another time.

* * *

**16 May 2014 SGT:** Well, there you go. Some two thousand plus words. Excluding author's note and silly titles.

And I actually _did_ this in Microsoft Word. For the first time in a _year_.

Also I don't remember much about Popon but I remember he was really annoying. Like, _really_.


End file.
